The Struggle for the RTP

feltEditor’s Note: This reflection was written by a student in the Introduction to Journalism class I teach. I think his ideas on the struggle for the RTP or “Ready to Publish” are a universal part of writing life. What do you think?

By Will Hesslink

One very important part of publishing and writing is editing.

But, in my own work, I found it difficult to have multiple opinions on my pieces. Each person who read my piece had their own ideas about how to improve it.

 At times, the ideas and suggestions were not the same. When that happened, I found it hard to edit because I had to find a middle ground. I needed to consolidate everyone’s ideas for making it better. I also found it hard to listen to other’s suggestions when I felt they did not  understood what I was trying to say. Similarly, sometimes, they wanted to change how I was presenting information.

However, editing must be done to publish an article or turn in any paper for school.

The only problem with editing is picking which advice to take, and which to ignore. People have different opinions, and it can be tough to choose which advice fits better. Often, it depends on how a person’s advice flows with the rest of the article.

Thus, in my experience with multiple editors this semester, I have discovered how tough it can be to juggle people’s edits, try to make everybody happy, and have the article still flow well.